


Working for it

by U_know_u_luv_me_99



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, crazy Murphy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-04-29 09:51:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5123225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/U_know_u_luv_me_99/pseuds/U_know_u_luv_me_99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after the Arc came down, but Murphy never came back after he was exiled. One day he is found, but he's not completely sane.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Bellamy Blake was walking around the camp, looking for something to do. He’d sent out his scouts to patrol the area, he’d talked to Clarke, but she was handling all the politics. There wasn’t much for him to do. Now that the adults from the Arc had arrived, Bellamy found that he had a lot of time on his hands.

 

Kane had given him control over the scouts, but any danger they found had to be reported back to Kane. Bellamy felt like he was constantly on a leash, never able to be fully free. He missed the days when he was in control, and he was even more spiteful, because while he had lost all control when the Arc came down, Clarke remained in power.

 

He didn’t resent Clarke, he was glad that she was in charge, and he trusted her more than he trusted any of the adults. But, he was jealous, and he wasn’t handling it well. He was fidgety, and aggressive, and he didn’t know what to do with himself.

 

“Bellamy!” someone called. The man in question spun around, looking for who called after him. He saw one of his scouts running towards him, a panicked look on his face

 

“What is it?” Bellamy asked when the boy caught up to him.

 

“We found someone in the woods,” he panted.

 

“What sort of someone?” Bellamy asked.

 

“I’m not sure, but I think it might be Murphy.”

 

“What do you mean you’re not sure? Is it or isn’t it?” Bellamy asked. He hadn’t thought about Murphy in a long time, but he was excited he was back. If Murphy was here, Bellamy would definitely have something to do.

 

“It is, but he’s different. I’m not sure he’s sane,” the scout said. Bellamy frowned, but gestured for the scout to lead the way. He should be reporting to Kane, but Murphy had always been his problem, and he was going to deal with him now.

 

The scout lead Bellamy into the woods, and Bellamy could see the rest of his scouts standing together. “Why are they standing there?” he asked.

 

“Murphy wouldn’t let us anywhere near him. He kept screaming whenever we came near him.” They greeted the rest of the group and Bellamy looked around but couldn’t see Murphy.

 

“Where is he?” he asked.

 

“He’s around the corner,” one of the scouts answered. “He’s just sort of, staring at the sky.” Bellamy pushed through the group, turning the corner and seeing Murphy, sitting cross legged on the ground, staring up at the sky with a big grin on his face.

 

“Murphy?” Bellamy called out to him. Murphy spun around, looking at Bellamy with bright eyes.

 

“Bellamy!” he shouted, scrambling to his feet. “I have something for you!” Bellamy caught sight of something in his hands, and stood confused as Murphy ran to him. Murphy placed what he could now see was a flower crown on Bellamy’s head, and giggled. “You’re the flower king!” he said.

 

Bellamy grabbed the crown off his head and threw it to the ground. He opened his mouth to ask Murphy what was going on, but was shocked to see that Murphy had begun to cry. Tears were rolling down his face, but he was making no sound.

 

“What’s wrong?” he asked, but Murphy just shook his head, refusing to reply. “Is it the crown?” he bent to pick it up off the ground, putting it back on his head. “Look, I’m wearing it. I’m the flower king, right?” Murphy looked back up, and the tears stopped flowing, although he still didn’t make any sound. He didn’t smile again, but at least he wasn’t crying. Bellamy could tell he had his work cut out for him. He was sort of looking forward to it.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

It had been three days since Murphy had been found, and things had only gotten weirder. Murphy was out of it. He spent most of his time staring at the trees and muttering to himself. He refused to talk to anyone, flinching away from everyone except for Bellamy (and occasionally Monty). 

He spent a lot of time making flower crowns, and he gave every single one of them to Bellamy. Bellamy had rejected only one more, and although Murphy hadn’t teared up again, Bellamy couldn’t bring himself to reject anymore. The way the other boy’s face lit up when Bellamy wore them made Bellamy strangely proud.

“Bellamy!” Clarke called, and Bellamy winced. He knew this was coming. He had been avoiding pretty much everyone except for Murphy and Octavia for the past three days. He sighed, but stopped moving and waited for Clarke to catch up. When Clarke finally reached him she was accompanied by Abby and Kane, and Bellamy groaned.

“So,” Kane began. “Explain the Murphy situation.” He said it with such a straight face that Bellamy felt chills run down his spine.

“My team found him in the woods while patrolling.”

“And why didn’t you report it to me?” Kane asked.

“They said it was urgent. I was going to tell you after I talked to him, but I got a bit distracted,” Bellamy said, trying not to appear intimidated. “As you can probably see, Murphy’s not all there anymore, and he needs me. I don’t know why, but he trusts me.”

“I see that,” Abby said, glancing pointedly at the flower crown still resting on Bellamy’s head. Bellamy shrugged, but didn’t comment.

“But do you trust him?” Clarke asked.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Bellamy asked. “He’s harmless. Plus, I don’t even remember what he was exiled for anyway.”

“For chasing us through the woods and trying to kill a twelve year old girl,” Clarke reminded him, but she didn’t seem particularly passionate about it. Honestly, both of them sort of regretted what had happened. They’d all been caught up in the moment.

“We did try to hang him,” Bellamy replied. “And, he’s not like that anymore. He barely speaks. He’s not going to attack anyone.” Bellamy regretted it as soon as he said it. He knew it would come back and bite him. He heard screams, and he closed his eyes and grimaced. 

“Get off him! What are you doing!” he heard someone screaming and he turned around to see Murphy on top of Jasper, a small crowd forming around them. He sprinted over, pulling Murphy off of Jasper. 

Murphy clung to Bellamy tightly, face buried in Bellamy chest, hands gripping his shirt.

“Murphy!” he yelled. “Stop it!” He pulled Murphy away from him, looking into his eyes. He was surprised to see tears pouring down Murphy’s face. Murphy flinched away from him, tearing his hands away like they were on fire.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, head down. He backed away slowly, back hitting a tree. The crowd were swarming on him now.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Why are you here?”

“Go to hell!”

Bellamy watched as Murphy curled in on himself letting out a painful shriek as he began to claw at his face.

“Alright, everybody leave him alone!” he yelled. He pushed forward, kneeling next to Murphy and pulling his face up so their eyes met. “Calm down,” he said calmly. Murphy’s eyes were terrifyingly blank. Bellamy stared at him, before pulling Murphy’s face down to his neck. He wasn’t sure what else to do, so he let Murphy sob into his shoulder while he stroked his arm.


	3. Chapter 3

Weeks had passed and things calmed down, but Murphy’s situation had gotten worse. No more fights had broken out, but people still hurled insults at Murphy whenever they saw him. Murphy had had one more violent outburst, oddly when Kane had tried to pull rank on Bellamy. Murphy had seen Bellamy looking angry and had lunged at Kane angrily, growling and scratching.

But Murphy never responded aggressively to the insults about himself. Instead, he curled in on himself, becoming more and more withdrawn each day. Now, he never left Bellamy’s side. He went with him everywhere. Patrols, meetings with Clark or Kane, he even shared his tent.

The patrols had been the biggest problem. Sure the meetings were awkward, and the tent sharing had spread some rumours, but that was nothing Bellamy couldn’t handle. The patrols were bad, because Murphy didn’t want Murphy to be unarmed, but he didn’t trust him with a weapon. He ended up giving him a sharp stick. It wasn’t much, but Bellamy felt slightly better anyway.

It was during one of these patrols that it happened. The patrol was attacked by a large, angry, boar. It wasn’t normal, or at least it wasn’t what they had been taught was normal back on the arc. It was huge, with tusks longer than Bellamy’s legs. It charged at them, snarling angrily. Bellamy yelled at his team to run, and he turned to Murphy, seeing him paralysed. “Run!” he yelled, but it was too late. The boar had reached them, and it slammed into Bellamy, throwing him across the forest.

Bellamy groaned, pushing himself up and scrambling backwards. He looked up and froze when he saw Murphy. Murphy was on top of the boar, stabbing violently with his stick. The animal wasn’t moving and there was blood all over the other boy, but still he didn’t stop. He kept swinging and swinging, yelling the whole time.

“Murphy!” Bellamy called, trying not to sound upset. He stood up, approaching the other boy. “Murphy, it’s okay.” Murphy still didn’t look up. “Murphy,” he said quietly, grabbing his arm and stopping its movement. Murphy didn’t move, so Bellamy turned his head to face him. His eyes were full of terror and sadness.

“I’m sorry,” Murphy said quietly, voice full of tears. “You got hurt.”

“That wasn’t your fault,” he reassured him, not raising his voice. “You couldn’t control it.” Murphy let the rears fall, and Bellamy sighed. He gently cradled him in his arms, waiting for him to calm down.

“Bellamy!” Clarke called, and Bellamy looked back in shock to see her and Abby running towards them.

“Shh!” he hissed at them, gesturing to Murphy with his head.

“Sorry,” Clarke said, calming down a bit now that she could see he was safe. She paused, finally taking in the scene. The boar lay dead, bloody stick lying next to him, and Murphy’s body was covered in blood. “Is he okay?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Bellamy answered honestly.

“Well, he has to be,” Clarke said. “Because Lexa’s here.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Murphy's torture by the grounders is sort of referenced here, but nothing is described or even really mentioned. However, Murphy's reaction is still clear, so I wanted to warn you.

Bellamy was freaking out. Lexa and her commanders had been in the camp for hours now, and Murphy was getting antsy. Bellamy had kept him in their tent, trying to prevent Murphy from seeing them. He didn’t know what had happened to Murphy after he was exiled, but he doubted the sight of grounders would be welcome.

 

But it had been hours now and Murphy was beginning to ask to go outside. Being inside the cramped tent made Murphy uncomfortable after a while, and Bellamy finally relented when Murphy began to curl in on himself. “Ok,” he said. He stood up and went to open the tent, peeking outside. He looked around but couldn’t see any of the grounders. He assumed they were all in the council meeting.

 

He gestured for Murphy to follow him and he did, clinging to his arm. Bellamy led them to a secluded area, just outside the camp. They were still hidden, but Murphy didn’t feel trapped. Bellamy watched as Murphy squealed with glee and ran towards a patch of flowers. The pair remained there for almost an hour in peace but it was broken when a pair of grounder commanders crashed into the area, chatting loudly in their language.

 

Murphy froze, eyes widening with fear. He turned and saw the pair watching him with smirks. “Look, it’s Birdy,” one of them said and Murphy let out a whimper. “I didn’t think we’d meet again little bird.”

 

Murphy was beginning to hyperventilate and Bellamy rushed over to him, wrapping his arms around his shivering body. “You need to leave,” Bellamy growled, but the grounders simply laughed.

 

“Looks like you found yourself a protector Birdy,” one of them said. “I’m surprised anyone wants to deal with your messed up mind.” Bellamy saw red and before he even realised it he was lunging at them. He threw punched left and right, landing a few hits, but it wasn’t long before the larger men overpowered him. They pushed him to the ground, kicking his ribs and stomach with their boots. Bellamy curled in on himself but through his fingers he was able to see Murphy. The other boy had tears streaming down his face. He was shaking all over but unlike with the boar, he was making no move to jump in and fight. He looked terrified. His mouth hung open but he released no sound.

 

Only when the grounders had had their fun, leaving Bellamy bruised and bleeding with at least two broken ribs, did Murphy make a noise. He began to shriek. The sound was piercing and shrill, echoing through the woods and, Bellamy was sure, into the camp. The sound continued for close to ten minutes without stopping.

 

People came running but Bellamy couldn’t see who they were, he was barely conscious anyway, the only thing keeping him awake was Murphy’s scream. There were hands on him then and Bellamy could see people running to Murphy too. There were voices everywhere but Bellamy couldn’t understand anything that they were saying.

 

Blood had seeped into his vision and he was beginning to lose feeling in his left arm. He didn’t think his arm was supposed to be turned that way anyway. He felt himself be lifted and he was dimly aware of the pain shooting through his body as he was moved. As he began to pass out, Murphy’s scream still echoed in his ears.


	5. Chapter 5

Bellamy was still in recovery. It had been a week, but his body was nowhere close to being healed. His arm had been broken, along with two ribs, his nose, and two fingers. Both eyes were swollen and he could hardly see out of them, and his head had gotten cut pretty badly.

 

Clarke had been in constantly, always apologising on Lexa’s behalf. Apparently the men who had done it had both been punished equally, and Bellamy felt a strange glee at the thought that they had both been beaten to a pulp. Clarke had flinched when Bellamy had asked if they’d been punished for Murphy’s torture as well. Lexa had said that that was an act of war, and she wasn’t sorry for it.

 

Bellamy looked down at the younger boy, who was curled up next to him on the hospital bed. He hadn’t left the room since they’d been brought in, despite the fact that there was nothing physically wrong with him. He spent all day curled up against Bellamy, shaking and whimpering, tears leaking from his eyes. Bellamy didn’t understand how what had happened to him could ever be explained. Murphy had been so angry and strong, and now he was barely a shell.

 

Bellamy had taken to muttering reassurances to the other boy, making sure he knew that Bellamy would always be there. “I’ll never let anyone else hurt you,” he would say. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you.”

 

Murphy still cried, but every time Bellamy talked to him, his body seemed to tense less. He wasn’t calm or relaxed, but he looked less likely to burst something with how tightly he was clenching Bellamy’s shirt.

 

“Do you think he’ll ever get back to who he was?” he asked Clarke one day when Murphy was asleep.

 

“No,” she said without any doubt. “He’s too far gone for that.”

 

Bellamy nodded in response. “Alright,” he said. “I guess I’ll just have to look out for him then.” Clarke smiled.

 

“He’s lucky to have you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end! Sorry, I know it's kind of blunt. Thank you all for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this](http://johnothanmurphy.tumblr.com/post/132156113230/au-where-instead-of-murphy-bringing-disease-and) tumblr post.  
> Check me out on [tumblr](http://u-know-u-luv-me.tumblr.com/), and check my [writing](http://madoulgeris.weebly.com/) [blogs](http://fairytalesoftheworld.weebly.com/).


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